SAN FRANCISCO-- May 10, 2005--SPL WorldGroup, Inc., a leading provider of mission-critical software solutions for the global utility market, today announced that Xcel Energy, the fourth-largest combination electric and natural gas energy company in the U.S., is now live with the SPL Outage Management System (SPL OMS), replacing outdated and disparate legacy systems in each of their regions.

Xcel Energy serves 3.3 million electric and 1.8 million natural gas customers in 10 western and Midwestern states. With their implementation complete, SPL OMS has further enhanced Xcel Energy's ability to accurately capture, track and analyze outage information. This will help provide an auditable record of outages to meet regulatory requirements, as well as help Xcel Energy achieve their ongoing goals of operational and customer service improvements. Additionally, the integration of SPL OMS into Xcel Energy's enterprise application integration infrastructure will enable automatic synchronization of the OMS with the operations-critical GE Smallworld GIS data.

"This is a very significant and high profile technology step taken by Xcel Energy," said Ray Gogel, VP & chief information officer of Xcel Energy. "SPL OMS will play a crucial role in our ongoing goals of optimized customer service, reduced costs and improved audit records, and SPL has helped advance our capabilities to a point where Xcel Energy has come to be recognized as a technology innovation leader in the North American energy industry. SPL's care and emphasis on service has also made the two major implementations at our North and South service areas highly successful and painless."

"Utilities must realize greater efficiencies to survive in the current economic environment," said Dave Mulit, General Manager of the America's for SPL. "Xcel Energy has set the power utility technology standard for improved system-wide efficiency and customer service improvement using SPL OMS. We're proud to be working with an industry visionary and to be part of such a significant implementation."

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company with regulated operations in 10 Western and Midwestern states. Xcel Energy provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.3 million electricity customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers through its regulated operating companies. In terms of customers, it is the fourth-largest combination natural gas and electricity company in the nation. Company headquarters are located in Minneapolis. More information is available at www.xcelenergy.com.

About SPL

SPL (www.splwg.com) delivers the proven software applications that help utilities around the world achieve competitive advantage and excellence in business performance, while ensuring a lower total cost of technology ownership. SPL solutions in customer care and billing, enterprise asset and work management, mobile workforce management, and outage and distribution management are specifically designed for energy, water, and service companies. Working with systems-integration and technology partners around the world, SPL has an unparalleled record of implementation success. SPL focuses on clients' return on investment and fosters long-term relationships based on confidence and trust. Visit SPL at www.splwg.com or call +1-866-468-6775 (San Francisco), +44-207-851-6840 (London), or +61-2-8258-8200 (Sydney). Within the US and Canada, call +1-800-275-4775.

Contacts 
SPL WorldGroup, Inc.
Tracey Mitchell, 973-401-7525
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Cathy McCause, 925-658-1056
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